Bill Gates says that the rich of this world must help the poor. Didn’t someone else say that once?

Caterpillar(CAT: 69.40 -0.46%) is the latest big company to take a hit from our shrinking economy. 20,000 jobs, or 18% of it’s worldwide workforce is being layed off due to shrinking profits.

Ford(F: 12.97 +0.46%) still says it doesn’t need government cash to keep going. Good for them, but for how long? It’s a long way to an economic recovery. Who’s buying new cars right now?

Countrywide has a 7 month CD at 2.10%. It’s 10,000 min. though.